Veggo's Profile
Would you buy a CHOW or CH t-shirt?
For some of us whose adventures in the kitchen are not always successful, maybe a cartoon of smoke billowing out of an oven, the housepets are cowering in a corner, and through the kitchen window a fire engine and a pizza delivery car can be seen arriving at the same time.
I beleive I have failed as a chowhound parent, and now I must suffer.
Let him ease into adult pleasures nice and slowly and at his own chosen speed - he's only a kid once. Too many exhaust their life's thrills too soon, enabled by well-meaning parents. Then what?
"Hitting" on the Waitress (server) Is it OK?
To borrow from another activity, flirting is like innocuous catch and release, whereas hitting on is more like an attempt to catch and then stuff and mount.
What's for Dinner? #146 - Memorial Day Edition [old]
If mc knew me she wouldn't speak so kindly about me.
Restaurant Recommendations in Havana, Cuba
Cuban food in Cuba sucks. It's better on Calle Ocho in Miami. That said, ask about the better paladares in Miramar and Vedado as soon as you arrive. I hesitate to recommend a paladar because when they become popular soldiers close them in the middle of the night. Success is one's downfall in Cuba; it's not allowed. Are you flying into Jose Marti? Will you hire a car and driver? I recommend that you do. Vedado is where a lot of the old mansions are peeling apart and are occupied by higher up military personnel, and a few paladares there are allowed to stay open because of good connections. The state owned restaurants are characteristically bland, including the hotel restaurants in the once elegant Nacional all the way to the new slick Melia Cohiba. Plan on beans and rice and plantains with every meal, and then alternating between chicken and pork. Bring a pepper shaker, there is none on the island. You should be able to get good fruit and juices for breakfast. You can get a lobster dinner at El Floridita for about 38 bucks which is what your server earns in 5 months. At least go for a daiquiri and the cool mahogany bar. La Bodeguita del Medio is a must just to get loaded on mojitos on a hot afternoon. There are 4 or 5 restos at the Marina Hemingway a little west of Miramar on Av. Cinco, it's first class and a good place to make connections.
Be judicious with the use of a camera and expect lots of articulated russian busses belching exhaust in your face as you eat ice cream or drink coffee on the sidewalks, and lots of power blackouts. The old architecture and the square and the friendly folks despite their wretched life are the highlights.
I'm sure you know to bring only foreign currency - Canadian dollars, Euros, or Mexican pesos. You may have vouchers depending on what country you arrive from, but your credit cards are useless there and internet is a thing of the future. Communism is a very strange system and don't joke about it while you are there.
Buen provecho.
Recipe: Chicken Salad with Anchovies
I made an ample single serving for supper with my modifications - red onion and cilantro - served with Haas avocado halves. I have more of each ingredient for another batch or 2 soon - very tasty, thanks lemons. It's nice to have another chicken arrow in the quiver.
Which packaging scam annoys you the most
That is a tactic often used to reduce shoplifting of high price- to-volume items.
Would you buy a CHOW or CH t-shirt?
Perpetual runner up as I am, I won another refrigerator magnet in that one....
Would you buy a CHOW or CH t-shirt?
I like the slogan contest idea, the way The Washington Post Style Invitational does them for shirts, bags, and refrigerator magnets.
...and Cigars?
Te Amo is the reason travelers from Cuba to Mexico can only bring 2 boxes of cigars back with them. Large Mexican producers of anything have a lot of influence over limiting foreign competitors, most notably American beer.
Te Amo are a pretty good everyday smoke.
What's for Dinner? #146 - Memorial Day Edition [old]
I had lots of lobsters Saturday and Sunday, and tonight I made macadamia nut crusted chilean sea bass that was wicked good. Bourdain in Baja starts in 3 minutes...
Bourdain in Baja
I remember tearing off bottle caps of warm beer with my teeth it was so hot along the way. It was SO hot. La Paz is an extraordinary destination, mostly the architecture, honeymoon quality. I hope AB doesn't skip it for CSL. I bailed from Pichilingue to Mazatlan on the ferry after a couple months of serious seafood. 1974. I have been back several times, but that first adventure left a large impression.
Bourdain in Baja
Thanks, DD, I'll catch it. I have major memories ( and wounds!) from hitchhiking the 980 tough miles between S.D. and La Paz. In summer.
...and Cigars?
It's hard to ignore a woman who can manage a petit corona in one hand, and a jerez sherry in the other...
Unidentified Chicken Part
Deep fry them and serve with plastic sword toothpicks and a blue cheese dipping sauce. Let your guests try them and then observe them for 20 minutes.
Recipe: Chicken Salad with Anchovies
Right up my alley during a hot summer. With your permission I'll go with a red onion for a little color, and some fresh cilantro. A scoop on a starburst tomato with a riesling are in my near future.
...and Cigars?
Lots of variables here. I have a few favorites and rules of thumb. My preferred cigar sizes are robusto and corona, which are both about 30 minute smokes, the robusto being shorter but larger ring size. These enable me to go sweet with porto, madeira, Xtabentun, or Sambucca, or go hot with cognac, single malt, or bourbon, or go middle with an anejo rum or tequila or mezcal. With a longer smoke such as a Churchill I'll always go sweet usually with a bottle of VP, but those are special occasions. Davidoff Churchills are reliable, Cohiba Esplenditos are nearly all counterfeit unless you purchase them in Spain.
My favorite coronas, H. Upmann, Punch, and Cohiba Siglo III, are cuban and they don't Venn Diagram well with single malts and cognacs but they meld with Havana Club anejo. I rub a litte on the wrapper and get started with a sipper. Romeo Y Julietta also. My lonely humidor in FL has mostly Cohiba robustos and Partagas as I recall. I get back just a couple times a year.
Maduros and oscuros are strong but sweeter and call for a hot companion - cognac or scotch or bourbon. It's all fun.
Turks & Caicos Foodie Restaurant recommendations???
What month are you going? Lobster from the packing plants is a good value for preparing at home, but the season is closed from Apr. 1 through Aug. 1. I assume you are staying on Provo? The IGA on Leeward highway sometimes has fresh conch. Check in the mornings, if they have it the nice ladies there will clean it and make a nice conch salad for you to pick up later in the day. Cracked conch at Da Conch Shack in Blue Hills is a must. I would steer away from meat either in restos or the markets and stick with what is local. Most fruits and veggies come from Jamaica or DR and are fairly pricey. You will find lots of resto recos on the boards here.
Ketchup Lovers: Super Slippery Ketchup Bottles On The Horizon
I suspect that ketchup makers have long enjoyed the high frequency of our repurchase of their product because we can't get the last 10% out of the bottle. Recyclers, on the other hand, will like the slippery containers.
Seeing Someone Touch Your Food
Many cheeses have edible rinds. My cheese lady will re-glove between different cheese samplings, sometimes 8-9 pair in a 20 minute visit. No problem for her. She is a pro and she knows her cheeses and my tastes exactly. And Theresa gives me free duck fat and livers....everybody should know a Theresa!
Seeing Someone Touch Your Food
This is doubly egregious because she handled your cheese. Anyone who knows cheese knows that handling it can introduce bacteria that can accelerate mold and bacteria growth on cheese that can shorten its shelf life.
Best Steak Tartare in city
21 Club. Tableside, any way you want it, they have had lots of practice.
your favorite food movie..
Companion films "Jean de Florette" and "Manon of the Spring". Wine related, you would enjoy them, Bill.
Sarasota/LBK trip report
"Ate there Saturday evening....
Good food, good menu, nice atmosphere, great location, great pricing, but service was terrible. They staff needs lots more training. The house was packed and the wait staff was going crazy. Once this straightens out, it will be a great restaurant."
Irwin, this was your post about HSOB on Jan. 24. Why the change of heart? I'm in agreement with kengk that the grilled oysters there are so good, just keep eatin 'em 'til you can't.
What are your FAVORITE meals or dishes to enjoy when it's HOT outside?
Quinine was the best defence against malaria.
Looking for ideas for radishes and cilantro (don't have to be together)
Together they go well with tacos of fish or carnitas.
Bread-Who Loves Ya Baby ?
Unfair! Youse guys are in Paris and tease us with your fancy breads although DCM's sound more like UXB's. I rotate among TX-FL-MX and I can hardly get a decent seeded jewish rye.
P.S. to DCM - since 1994, it's been "Who loved ya, baby"...
